Monday Mural - Vanishing Point

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you; 

just follow the Linky steps below.  Once you start looking you find murals everywhere.  

Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week. 

Monday Mural meme is posted at 12,01am Monday, Western Australian time. Thanks, Sami. 

In October 2018 I posted this mural made with 8000 hand-made tiles, by Portuguese/Australian artist Luis Geraldes in the Sydney suburb of Petersham, also known as "Little Portugal".

In 2019 I visited the same area, but took the train and discovered some bright murals on the staircase leading to the station.

Painted in 2018, the various murals titled Vanishing Point were painted by George Rose, Brad Eastman, James Simon and Tim Phibs.

Post about the first mural:

https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2018/10/monday-mural-fragile-world-in-constant.html

Sydney - Day 7 -Last day around town

Tuesday, 11th June - On my last morning in Sydney, I arrived in the city at about 11am to meet up with my friend Bebe.
From our meeting place we walked along George Street to Circular Quay from where we were taking a 20 minute ferry ride to Mosman, an upmarket suburb in Sydney's lower north shore.

The Peacock, a Vivid Sydney installation that I missed. I can imagine it would be fabulous when lit at night

On George St, in the suburb of The Rocks, I spotted a mural I had previously shown. I hadn't noticed the  mural matching electrical boxes before, and I liked the green wall under the railway bridge.

The Rocks - Mural, electrical boxes and green wall under the railway bridge

View of the Bridge from George's street

The purpose of the short ferry ride to Mosman was just a relaxing ride and also to get photos of the city from the harbour.

The massive P&O Pacific Explorer was docked at Circular Quay for the day, so lots of tourists exploring the city.

The P&O Pacific Explorer at Circular Quay

The ferry awaits - the Opera House to the right

Circular Quay, the city's highrises and the Museum of Contemporary Art (on right)

Panoramic View - from the Opera House to the Harbour Bridge

Halfway to Mosman we stopped at Cremorne Point, just past the lighthouse on the tip of Robertsons Point.

The lighthouse was constructed in 1910 and is still active, although the access is closed, you can get close to it by descending a couple of stairs carved on the rock.  

I wrote about  a walk around Cremorne Point and this lighthouse in February 2018 and you can read it here.

Lighthouse at Cremorne Point

When we reached Mosman we stayed on the ferry for the return trip.

I enjoyed seeing the pretty houses with their gardens bordering the river, the small apartment blocks and all the small boats anchored on the bay. 

An idyllic setting don't you think?

 

On the return trip to our right was Admiralty House, home of the Governor General of Australia and Kirribilli House, the Australian Prime Minister's secondary residence, on the harbourside suburb of Kirribilli.

Admiralty House (top) and Kirribilli house next door

The ferry ride from Circular Quay to Mosman Bay Wharf (in green)

Sadly my friend wasn't feeling too well that day and we said our goodbyes, she went home and I got on the train at Circular Quay to the Airport.

At 2pm I was at the airport ready to pick up my bags from the storage, at Terminal 3, then walked across to Terminal 2 with plenty of time to spare and rest before taking off at 4,45pm.

Sunset by take-off

We arrived about 40min late in Perth due to high winds, I took a taxi home and was welcomed by my 3 cats eager to have another meal.

As usual Fluffy gets very clingy when I'm away and then for a week or two will follow me around like a puppy.

Sydney - Day 6 - Narrabeen Lakes

Monday 10th June - was a public holiday in Sydney, celebrating the Queen's birthday.

After going to bed very late or is it very early 😉...because of the neighbour's dinner party, we got up late, and after breakfast I packed my carry case and Jose packed a large suitcase with stuff he was no longer using and wanted me to bring to Perth.

The neighbour had suggested that if we wanted to drive somewhere close by, we could go to Narrabeen Lakes just 20km (12 miles) away.
We walked to the rented car parked just down the road, kids were playing cricket in the street, and in one of the gardens I spotted a couple of brush turkeys.
Native to the East Coast, they are part of an ancient species but have adapted well to city life.




We drove to Narrabeen Lakes (or Lagoon), the largest estuary system located on Sydney's northern beaches. The lagoon provides a haven for wildlife, walking trails, water sports and fishing. 






Around the lagoon there are numerous car parks close to picnic areas, playgrounds and boat ramps. 

After parking, we walked around an area of the lake and spotted various types of ducks, black swans and various birds....



On the walk around we went past Riccardo Pizzaria. What a pity, a bit too early for dinner still...

Sadly being winter the sun started going down just before 5pm, but I love the reflections it made on the water.

 
On the way home we stopped in Chatswood to see the Vivid lights.
A very modest show compared to what Sydney had, but the town was full of families walking around admiring the lights.
The display was mainly along Victoria Avenue, and we stopped first at The Concourse, the town's cultural centre, to watch the changing display on the building's facade and then walked along until we reached the Station and returned to our car.

  

Entry to the Chatswood station

Back home we dined on leftovers from lunch, and then we drove to the airport to drop the bags into the Smarte Carte Baggage storage.
Their website indicated they closed at 11pm and they had a facility in Terminal 2, from where I would be departing, but when we got there it was closed and a sign directed us to their facility at Terminal 3. Luckily we made it in time as they were about to close at 9pm just 15 minutes after we got there! 

I was flying back to Perth the next day late afternoon and would retrieve the bags and dispatch the large suitcase. It took us about 1,30h to drive there and back and sort storage out, and once home it was time to go to sleep.

Still one more morning in Sydney... in the next post.

Check out more signs from around the world.

                                              Middle Cove to Narrabeen Lagoon and then to Chatswood

Around the Central Coast (part 2) - Day 5

Sunday, 9th June - This would be our last day in the Central Coast as we had to be back in Sydney for a dinner that evening.

We checked out from the Airbnb in Berkeley Vale at 10am and drove south to our first stop at Terrigal, a popular beach destination. It was certainly my favourite beach on this coast 😎.

The town looked delightful and very upmarket, and even though it's winter there were loads of people enjoying a sunny day at the beach and a few brave ones were actually swimming.

Terrigal Beach

Terrigal beach

At Terrigal Beach

From Terrigal we drove to Avoca Beach. There is no scenic drive as there are lots of beach front properties, something that doesn't happen with the Perth beaches where everyone has a right to beach access and the houses are across the road.

Here I could actually see some fancy houses with a gate from their back garden to the beach.
Sadly it appears to be a treacherous beach as there were 3 plaques honouring 3 young men who drowned.
While Jose investigated beyond the rocky area to the left of the beach I watched a man playing with his dog, throwing a stick into the sea which he would bring back again climbing the rocks with ease.

Avoca Beach - fancy houses, sand, rocks and a man playing with his dog

Man and dog playing with a stick 

Houses with their back garden facing the beach, memorial plaques to young men who drowned on this beach

Next we drove to Copacabana Beach, first stopping at Winney Bay lookout and just to it's right the Captain Cook's Lookout.

At Winney Bar and Captain Cook's lookout. Bottom left - Winney bay lookout

Captain Cook's lookout

The lookout offers panoramic views of the Pacific ocean, and apparently on clear days you can see the Sydney skyline. It's also one of the best spots to watch the whale migration during June/July and October/November.
There were some people with binoculars who were pointing out to a whale in the distance, but without binoculars I could only make out a dark thing in the distance.

Just below is Copacabana Beach, a popular surfing and swimming beach, named after the famous Rio de Janeiro Beach in Brazil, maybe because it is surrounded by some hills on either side of the bay.

Copacabana Beach

After visiting nearby MacMasters Beach we decided that was enough beaches and drove on to Woy Woy about 17km away.

MacMasters beach with a Lifesaver station

MacMasters beach and a little rabbit we saw crossing the road when we were leaving

On the way to Woy Woy near Ettalong I spotted a beautiful area and we turned the car around to go and see it. It was St. Hubert's island, a beautiful and expensive canal estate built in the 1970's, with just over 1000 residences. 

St Hubert's Island canal estate 

Booker bay Marina across from St Hubert's Island

At Woy Woy (big lagoon' or 'much water' in the local Aboriginal language) we stopped at the Fishermen’s Wharf for what else but fish and chips, which was very nice this time.

Woy Woy is another popular retirement and holiday destination in the Central Coast, and a major commuter hub for local workers into Sydney and Newcastle with a train station and a bus interchange and there is a ferry that connects with other villages around.

While Jose waited for the order on the outside deck I photographed more pelicans being fed by a lady from the self-funded Pelican Rescue & Research. She was also giving a talk to the onlookers about the various things pelicans get tangled in at sea.

Can you spot the fish inside the beak?

Pelican feeding at Woy Woy

Jose motioned me over to eat and after our late lunch we walked around the waterfront reserve where a few people were fishing.  There was also a picnic area and a war memorial. Across the road Jose had a coffee at the Gnostic cafe, and I had a hot chocolate.

It was 5pm and we had a dinner invitation for 7pm at Jose's landlord's house, so we had to get going. Even though it felt as if we had travelled a huge distance we only did about 50kms from Berkeley Vale to Woy Woy and then we drove another 70km to Middle Cove in Sydney's northern suburbs.

Signs at the Woy Woy Fisherman's Wharf (2 on left) and at the Gnostic coffee shop (2 on right) 

We got home at 6pm, freshned up, changed into something more appropriate for dinner and joined the party that had already started upstairs at Jose's Iranian landlords.

They are a lovely couple who have become friends, and I'm so grateful to them for making sure that Jose didn't feel alone while working in Sydney. They invited him to some of their events, introduced him to their friends, took him out sightseeing, to the beach, to breakfasts, etc.

The dining table was laden with delicious Iranian nibbles, my favourite being a dip made with eggplant, really yummi.
The drinks flowed, and the numerous guests including us danced to the lively music.  
A few of the lovely ladies in the Iranian group who knew Jose wanted to talk to me, so I felt very welcome.

We had no idea there would be a main dish later on, so when lasagna was served at about 10pm I hardly had space left for it. 
Then they served delicious and light cream puffs that they bought at an Iranian pastry shop. I had to try one of course, it was divine!!

The starters table

N announced to everybody that Jose was leaving Sydney and returning to Perth (next week), so everybody was sad that Jose was leaving.
We left at 1,30am, luckily we just had to come down the stairs to the granny flat and straight to bed!
We hope B and N visit us in Perth one day.

Jose and I and the neighbours N and B

The map of our return trip from Berkeley Vale to Woy Woy

Berkeley vale to Woy Woy

 For other signs from across the world follow this link.